From my tests in the just-as-unstable-as-the-actual-programs IETester, I have concluded that this blog will not work properly in the Internet Explorer line of browsers. You may also experience issues in the Firefox line of browsers, but as I cannot get Firefox running for long without it glitching up I cannot confirm that. Do yourself and your computer a favor and install Opera today.
Why should you make the switch to Opera?
Leader in web innovations (e.g. tabs/multi-document interface, User JavaScript, User CSS, developer tools, web server within a web browser, e-mail client built into browser, Bittorrent client built into browser, easy access to 9 - 25 of your favorite websites, syncing bookmarks and other information across multiple copies of the browser on multiple computers)
Reliable security record (unlike the ultra-popular Firefox, which has been repeatedly flagged as the most vulnerable browser out there by many of the most reliable security vendors)
Does not record a single thing you type into the browser and send it back to base (unlike Google Chrome/Chromium)
Friendly community with lots of new faces to meet
No memory leaks (leading to cyber criminals having issues with dumping malware onto computers with Opera on it, unlike Firefox, where that is practically a sport by now; any memory leaks in Opera are fixed within hours)
Extensible framework/file sharer built into browser called Opera Unite (all versions from 10.10 up)
Most open proprietary program out there (even though the EULA says you can't edit the browser, you actually can; Opera Software allows you to edit the .ini files in Opera, although at your own risk...)
Lack of interest in cyber criminals (due to low market share, cyber criminals care less about it, unlike Internet Explorer and Firefox, both of which have high market share (62% and 48% respectively); therefore, more internet criminals want to exploit the flaws in those two browsers rather than something with low market share.)
With all that, what reason isn't there to make the switch to the underdog of the browser market?
At one point, I was considering closing down my site, qu404.com. However, now I am thinking of reviving it as a forum for friends of mine so we can communicate outside of Steam (I created a Steam group for online friends) but haven't decided on what to do with the domain yet. I've uploaded a zip file of Simple Machines Forum to the server, but haven't done anything with it yet, and all my email addresses as well as databases are deleted, so... yeah.
I'll post here as I come closer to the final decision.
Google Instant. The new YouTube homepage. Did anyone ask for those? No. But Google did them anyway. Well of course they did, Google doesn't care about you or what you think; they only care about what they think.
For example, their handling of YouTube updates. Ever since 2008, when YouTube removed the popular Bulletins feature from the site, Google and YouTube have both been receiving large amounts of negative backlash from the user regarding updates made to the site. Do they care, though? No. Of course not. More recently than that, the 2011 homepage redesign on YouTube. Again, nobody asked for it, but Google released it anyway - this time without warning. After that the negative backlash flooded to the YouTube forums, all demanding the old homepage back. Users quickly found out that all what really changed was the layout and that the features Google advertised as new were either useless or functionality the old homepage had. Google responded by saying that "millions" of users had opted-in to the new homepage and stuck with it - however, they did not compile a list of those "millions" of users, leading to even more negative backlash. Then comes this:
"Change is never easy, and we'll use your feedback to help YouTube improve in the weeks to come. But we know we're on to something, and the new homepage is here to stay. Give it a chance, and find out why millions of users opted in and stuck with it."
That has to be the worst "Screw you guys, we're doing what we want" I have ever seen. Google's employees should go ahead and rub more salt into the wound by posting ASCII middle fingers in every negative thread about the new homepage. I had informed them that making up statistics and then saying "Oh yeah, we're not letting you use the old page even if you want to" will not calm the storm. It will only make it worse. Will Google care? Nah.
Then comes Google Instant. Nobody really sees the point in it. Google promised support for Opera as well. It's been months since Google Instant became available and Opera support is nowhere in sight. In fact, to get Instant working in Opera you have to change the User Agent. That's just sad. Worse is that Google added Instant to Google Chrome 9 as a "flags" experiment. This loads sites before you even finish typing the URL, leading to some potentially risque sites while trying to browse innocently. If you search for "Google Instant sucks" you get HUNDREDS of complaints from around the web about it and why it shouldn't be on by default - but does Google care? Of course not.
I have yet to find a company that acts like Google; a total disregard for the user - probably the most important part of building a successful website, let alone business - and only doing what they want. There used to be a time when Google did, in fact, care about the user, but this was a long time ago. Now only they matter to them.
Just a little preview of my first Opera extension: Operabox. It does what you think it does: lets you access your Dropbox stuff right from your Opera toolbar
To do:
- Get better screenshot (preferably one that includes the button as well) - Come up with better name - Fix rendering in the text entry form and on top (although that may be up to Opera to fix) - Package as .oex and release to the public
Anyway, why am I writing this? Because I was criticized for not playing Pokemon anymore in one of the least likely places: Team Fortress 2.
No, I am not making that up.
Last year, I had stopped playing Pokemon due to several reasons, one of which being a certain dictatorship "university" that had a set of rules I didn't agree with, another being my age and many of the other reasons why being personal. I hadn't ran into many major issues since then; many of my friends, almost all of which still play Pokemon, don't really mind that I don't play it any more. People who met me through friends are okay with it. Then this happens.
So, anyway, I was on the TF2Ware Primary Server (or rather Fortwars Primary Server, as that's all what everybody ever plays on that server) setting up a fort with my BLU allies. One of the players on the server was named Bulbasaur. Then, somebody announced that there "should" be more Pokemon on the server. I was like "I'd join in too, but I don't play Pokemon any more." Then comes the shitstorm of criticism.
And by shitstorm, I DO mean shitstorm. Every second I'd hear somebody over mic saying "What does he mean "Don't play Pokemon any more" Pokemon's awesome!" and other things like that. The other players on that server were older than me, mind you. Or at least they sounded that way.
Eventually it stopped, but I was still wondering what the hell went on. Later on that game, I switched servers, because it was Fortwars AGAIN. Since I have played Fortwars over 9000 times (seriously) I didn't want to play it any more.
But one's thing for certain: I am now questioning the intelligence of today's people more now. Pokemon is and, even if there are some "adult" things in it (e.g. "Game corner" aka casino,) will always be a children's game at best. I am not the child I was in 1999.
After some more exploring of Apple's so-called HTML5 demo page, I found out that the VR demo, which happens to be something you can already do with Flash, is actually CSS3!
And of course, while snooping through vr.css, the CSS document used by the VR demo, I did find a LOT of -webkit prefixes before CSS3 tags - which, to my knowledge, are NOT in the official W3C spec for CSS3. However, on top of that, I also found -moz prefixes and -o prefixes (-moz = Mozilla Firefox-family browsers, -o = I am guessing to be Opera). Now if only browserblock.js wasn't there, then those two prefixes wouldn't be put to waste.
My Opera
